CBRE: retail market continued upswing in 2004.

The retail industry had another strong year in 2004, highlighted by the 12th straight year of consistent, multifaceted growth, an upward trend unheard of in other real estate sectors.

Overall national retail sales for 2004 surged by $276 billion to $3.1 trillion (excluding auto sales).

These among other findings were revealed in CB Richard Ellis' newly-launched report "Retail Insight," a bi-annual publication compiled by CBRE Research which tracks the state of the national retail market.

"2004 found many retailers aggressively expanding," said Marianne Waggoner, CBRE President, Retail Services.

"With large box tenants like Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and Lowe's expected to continue this development pace in 2005. Consumers may rein in their spending in the face of rising interest rates and anticipated inflation, but the winning retailers will be those that effectively know their customer and merchandise offering, as well as those that provide service and convenience."

Other findings in the report include:

* The total number of U.S. shopping centers has increased 65% since 1986; and total square footage has expanded to nearly 6 billion square feet;

* Institutional investors have become much more aggressive retail bidders and are targeting some of the most expensive assets;

* Grocery-anchored neighborhood centers experienced the largest investment demand among retail property types despite threatening indicators of change;

* Sales volume for significant retail properties surpassed $35 billion during 2004.